The Indian arm of Ford Motor Company, the multinational American automotive manufacturer based in Detroit, successfully concluded its seventh annual Ford Global Week of Caring (GWC), which was organised in four different Indian cities including Chennai, Coimbatore, Sanand and New Delhi. The company with the help of some 1,000 volunteers from India along with a team of 12,000 Ford's present employees, retired servicemen and dealers, successfully implemented numerous community service projects based in six continents across the globe during the 7th edition of GWC.
In an effort towards establishing the company's brand image in the country, Ford India engaged its Indian volunteers towards more than seven community service projects in the aforementioned Indian cities. The GWC is the American auto maker's initiative towards its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities throughout the world and attracts numerous volunteers and enthusiastic service personnel eager to give their best towards the community. The latest GWC was celebrated from September 8-15, 2012 and witnessed participation of volunteers from Ford India and Ford’s Global Business Services, comprising Ford Business Services Centre and the Indian arm of Ford Technology Services. The company's team involving people from different backgrounds and age group, which labour together towards the uplifting and improvement of the lives of various communities functioning around Ford's Indian operations and the GWC entails the company's unrivalled motto 'Go Further' to become alive.
During the second week of September 2012, the Ford Volunteer Corps carried out their community service projects targeted at the betterment of the overall lifestyle of the communities spread around the Ford's Indian operations. The volunteers taught the backward running sectors of society, about the importance of basic amenities in their lives, such as sanitation, hygiene and health among the school children. The team conducted several awareness programs and eye check-up camps for local people, besides installing water purification systems and toilets at several neighbourhood schools. In order to establish the importance of education of children among the people of rural areas, the Ford Volunteer Corps coordinated special campaign called Literacy Melas. The team also highlighted the importance of being self sufficient to backward rural women and taught them a thorough lesson in tailoring skill development. One of the most significant things carried out by the volunteering team was that it briefed the local people towards approaching common problems using a pragmatic approach including identification of problem, determination of a possible solution and the implementation of final solution. The team employed the distribution of shoes to students and the construction of school toilets, as means to help the local community and further helped Ford India to cement its position as a responsible corporate house year-on-year on the domestic turf.
Highlighting Ford's Indian commitment at the Grand Finale event at Melrosapuram CSI School, Chennai, Michael Boneham, President and Managing Director (MD), Ford India, said, “At Ford in India, we strongly believe in working closely with the communities throughout the year. During GWC every year, we take the opportunity to celebrate the scale of volunteerism and work harder towards engaging and involving in initiatives that bring a smile in the children and a positive change to the communities. I thank all the volunteers for making this valuable contribution in helping the kids learn and helping improve sanitation with new toilets at schools and more. We will continue to build on this good work with our initiatives like ‘Operation Goodwill’ in the coming months”
Commenting on the Ford India's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, Joginder Singh, Executive Director, Ford Global Business Services, said, “Ford is a special company. We not only have best-in-class products, we have best-in-class volunteerism. Over the last seven years, our compassionate and enthusiastic employees have been making a difference to people in the local communities during the Ford Global Week of Caring. With every passing year, we go further and get closer to our vision of a better world.”
The seventh edition of GWC in India witnessed the participation from over 500 school children from the villages of Melrosapuram and Peramanur villages, for a sanitation awareness program, which was organised by the Ford Volunteer Corps. The company built toilets at the local schools and trained its volunteers to provide an efficient educative experience for the local people. The volunteering team also donated a lavatory fixture to upgrade the sanitation situation at a nearby girl's school in Guduvanchery, in order to make sure that the girl children don't resist coming to school because of poor hygiene of the toilets. The volunteers were cheered upon as they presented the children from poor families, with 1,000 shoes in five local schools around Ford's facility in Maraimalai Nagar. The company's eye check-up programme registered a huge turnout as well, from the students of two participating high schools.
Additionally, the volunteers from Ford's Global Business Services conducted an inter-school quiz contest for the neighbourhood schools, which witnessed an active and highly enthusiastic participation from over 1,000 local students. During the grand finale termed as 'Water Smart', the team also installed water purifiers at three separate local schools, which will enable over 2,500 students to have access to safe potable drinking water. Further, the team of active volunteers organised an innovative and entertainment spectacle featuring street plays along with a special social awareness programme for the teaching staff and the school students. Apart from the staged campaigns, the team also implemented a door-to-door campaigning programme to establish the importance of exercises like conservation and sustainability of water, among the minds of people of the local community. Reportedly, at the Ford's Sanand based plant, the volunteering team organised tree plantation activities along with different types of competitions for local children studying in schools situated in the neighbourhood.
Establishing the commitment and importance of Indian auto market to the company, Ford India shelled out around $ 28,000 towards the implementation of several community service projects undertaken during the 2012 GWC. The support money was part of the company's global initiative to help over 25 non-profit organisations in the Asia Pacific region including India, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Australia along with South Africa, which benefited from more than $ 90,000 grant money for the first time. The sanction money will be used by the volunteers towards the implementation of their respective community service projects.
Expressing his delight at the successful completion of the seventh annual GWC, Tom Chackalackal, Executive Director, Manufacturing, Ford India, said, “It has been a great experience to be a part of the events over the past week, driven by the eager enthusiasm of our volunteers to bring about change. Ford is committed to carry on the success of the seven days of caring year on year across all its operations, be it Chennai, New Delhi or Sanand.”
